Yomega Raider
The Raider is a yo-yo produced by Yomega as one its three flagship models since the 1990s, alongside the Fireball and Brain. Description The Raider, first introduced in 1991, is a yo-yo with the same Convex body shape as used by the earlier Fireball and Brain models, along with a traditional starburst response system, as well as one of the first modern ball bearing axles. It comes equipped with a tiny bearing measuring 3.962mm x 7.925mm x 3.175mm, smaller than even an A-sized bearing as used by the ProYo Turbo Bumble Bee and the original 1999 releases in Duncan's Hardcore series. In the late 1990s, the Raider gained its fame as a looper and became the yo-yo of choice for National and World Champion players, such as Jennifer Baybrook, Shinji Saito, and Alex Garcia. The yo-yo had also become a best-seller for Yomega, even to this day. The Raider and two of its variants, the Saber Raider and the RB II were also licensed to Bandai for the Hyper Yo-Yo range in the late 1990s, at the peak of the yo-yo boom. Several signature editions of the Raider have been produced by the recent winners who used them. At the end of 2005, the glow yellow model became the signature model of Koji Yokoyama, with a glow red model the signature model of Shinji Saito. Both these and previous signature models feature custom sidecaps, not found on the standard production variants. Variants *'Hyper Raider'/'StormTiger' - Bandai-licensed version of the Raider for Hyper Yo-Yo. *'RB II' - Capless variation based on the design of the Power Spin. Released in the Hyper Yo-Yo line as the Hyper RB II. *'Saber Raider' - String trick version featuring the Saber Wing profile. Released in Japan as the Stealth Raider. *'Glow Raider' - Glow-in-the-dark varation. *'RPM' - Variant of the Raider featuring electronic circuitry that keeps track of the player's loops, sleep times, mph, kmh and RPM to maintain a record in these categories. Modification The Raider, when modified the right way, is by far one of the most popular choices for many winning players in 2A (two-handed looping) play. Generally, this modification involves something done to introduce a very significant amount of friction into the bearing system. Many Raider mods are essentially a destruction of the components of the yo-yo to significantly reduce the string gap width. This is a relatively easy mod to do, but if done incorrectly, it may damage or even ruin the Raider, the mod link provided on the bottom of the article will help a lot. Raider EX The Raider EX is an adjustable Raider intended to eliminate the need for modding. It has five different string gap settings, determined by the means of five color-coded sets of aluminum spacers (which can also be used with the standard Raider). These spacers come in the following order of thicknesses; *Red: Thinnest *Purple: Second-thinnest *Yellow: Moderate thickness *Green: Second-thickest *Blue: Thickest. The default setting for the Raider EX uses the blue spacers. The EX also features a different axle system but the weight, bearing and shape are all relatively unchanged from the original Raider. It was first released on March 31, 2008. In most players' opinions, it is not exactly the best yo-yo. Not helping things, was how the fiasco at the 2007 Worlds was still relatively fresh in the minds of the community, especially with how Yomega's reputation became damaged from the fallout. The Raider EX was also adapted for the Hyper Yo-Yo line as the SpiralJaguar (Japanese: スパイラルジャガー), but it comes with three sets of spacers instead of five. Photos Image:THPRaiders.jpg|THP edition glow Raiders Image:Dark_green_raider.jpg|Semi-clear green Raider image:Yomegaraiderkoji.jpg|Signature Raider for Koji Yokoyama (from Dave Schulte's collection) image:Yomegaraidermasahiro.jpg|Signature model Raider for Mashiro Tanikawa (from Dave Schulte's collection) image:Yomegaraideroutch.jpg|Signature model Raider for Brett Outchcunis AKA "Ooch" (from Dave Schulte's collection) image:Yomegaraiderpatmitchell.jpg|Signature yo-yo for Patrick Mitchell (from Dave Schulte's collection) image:Yomegaraidershinji.jpg|Signature yo-yo for Shinji Saito (from Dave Schulte's collection) image:Yomegaraiderold.jpg|Original 1991 Raider (from Dave Schulte's collection) image:Yomegaraidernationals1999.jpg|Nationals 1999 Contest edition (from Dave Schulte's collection) image:Yomegaraidernationals2000.jpg|Nationals 2000 Contest edition (from Dave Schulte's collection) image:Yomegaraidernationals2002.jpg|Nationals 2002 Contest edition (from Dave Schulte's collection) image:Yomegaraidernationals2004.jpg|Nationals 2004 Contest edition (from Dave Schulte's collection) image:Yomegaraidernationals2006.jpg|Nationals 2006 Contest edition (from Dave Schulte's collection) image:Yomegaraiderworlds2006.jpg|Worlds 2006 special edition (from Dave Schulte's collection) image:Yomegaraidery3a2003.jpg|Y3A Yomega Yo-Yo Association 2003 member yo-yo (from Dave Schulte's collection) image:Yomegateamyomega.jpg|Team Yomega special edition (from Dave Schulte's collection) Yomegahyperraiderbatangan2.jpg|THP Signature Series Raider for Alan Batangan (from Dave Schulte's collection) External Link *Yomega Raider Mod How to at YoYoNation (By Pat Cuartero) *Yomega Raider at the Museum of Yo-Yo History *Yomega Raider Team High Performance Edition (glow) at the Museum of Yo-Yo History *Yomega Raiden Shinji Saito signature Edition at the Museum of Yo-Yo History *Yomega Raider Team Yomega/Spingear edition at the Museum of Yo-Yo History Category:Yo-yo Category:Yomega yo-yos Category:North American yo-yos Category:Looping yo-yos Category:1990s yo-yos Category:2000s yo-yos